ESSCB releases second Strategic Plan reviewing NYSTEM’s accomplishments and setting forth objectives for the next phase of the program: “The New York State Stem Cell Science (NYSTEM) Program: A Report on Progress and a Vision for the Future.”

Researchers led by Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, the Mikati Foundation Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Medical Sciences at Columbia University, have for the first time demonstrated that electrical conditioning of stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes in three-dimensional culture promotes cardiomyocyte maturation. The therapeutic success of human stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes critically depends on their ability to respond to and integrate with the surrounding electromechanical environment. Dr. Vunjak-Novakovic’s team showed that cardiomyocytes adapt their autonomous beating rate to the frequency at which they were stimulated, an effect mediated by the emergence of a rapidly depolarizing cell population. This rate-adaptive behaviour is long-lasting and transferable to the surrounding cardiomyocytes. In summary, this exciting discovery sheds some light on more effective stem cell therapy of the heart by preconditioning human stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes with electrical stimulation.